Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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59. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if additional seasonal personnel will be allocated for the Passport Office earlier than the usual seasonal increase in view of the current levels of passport applications being processed (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11049/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service monitors the volume of applications on an ongoing basis to ensure that resources are available to meet demand. In order to respond to anticipated application increases and to seasonal demands, the Passport Service received sanction for 220 Temporary Clerical Officers (“TCOs”) this year to be appointed to the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork. The vast majority of the TCOs will be on a 26 week contract. The Passport Service commenced recruitment in October and November of last year for the intake of TCOs for this year. This intake commenced in early January, and all of the TCOs will be in place by the end of March. The allocation of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff assigned to the Passport Service as of 1 January this year is 322. This is an increase of 7% on the previous year. In addition, my Department has been working closely with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to examine the additional permanent staff requirements for the Passport Service. I am pleased to advise that 20 more newly appointed, permanent staff have joined the Passport Service since 1 January. Targeted overtime for the Passport Service was also sanctioned to increase processing capacity. In managing increasing application volumes, my Department’s approach has not been merely to recruit or assign additional staff, but to continue to implement service improvements in order to provide an exceptional service and minimise the impact exceptionally high application volumes have on turnaround times. The Passport Reform Programme is delivering major upgrades to the passport service technology platforms and business processes as well as significant customer service improvements. The award winning online passport application service, which was launched last year, will continue to make a major contribution to the effective management of exceptionally high volumes by allowing existing resources to be more effectively deployed within the Passport Service. At present, the online service only accommodates adult renewals and passport card applications. It is planned to further extend the online passport application service to all renewals by the end of 2018.

The Passport Service is working hard to minimise the impact of high application volumes on turnaround times and to ensure that all resources, including staffing, are effectively deployed.